Current instructor

Darryl Thelen

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.11/5 from 9 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

ME 340
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Thelen is a real down to Earth guy that wants to see people succeed. Homework problems were typically straight forward and stemmed from examples done in lecture. Exams were fair (not easy but not overly difficult either). Overall, Prof. Thelen did a good job teaching ME 340 and made the subject interesting.
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ME 340
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
This class was very hard. You need Math 320 for this. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. I made that mistake. A lot of work but some interesting stuff. From some this is easy and others it can be confusing.
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ME 340
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
His online lectures are super helpful. Pay attention to them especially for the multiple choice portion of exams, which tend to cover concepts he mentions in lectures you might forget if you didn't watch the video to review it. Do the work and understand the material and you should do well
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ME 340
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
The guy is clearly interested about the class subject, but didn't seem as interested in making sure people learned it. His In-class examples fly by pretty quick with little clarification, and he rarely made it through his full lecture plan for a day. The tests were fair in their content, but seemed binary in grading; don't plan on partial credit.
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ME 340
Quality 4/5Difficulty 1/5
I'm halfway through a semester of 340 with him now. The exams and quizzes so far haven't been tough at all, whoever said that must not have studied. Read the examples, review the moodle hws and you can't lose. Hw is easy, lectures are fun if not terribly enlightening. Labs are useless, but I think they're getting rid of them. V responsive to email
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ME 340
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Made dynamic systems interesting which isn't exactly easy. Probably the best professor I have had at UW. The course itself is difficult but his exams are fair (not easy but fair) and I learned a ton from the class.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Darryl Thelen

BME 399

Independent Study

1–3 credits

BME 399 offers directed study projects arranged with an instructor.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=1 letter grades).

Peter AdamczykAmit Nimunkar+68 more

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026
BME 489

Honors in Research

1–3 credits

BME 489 is an undergraduate honors research course where students conduct biomedical engineering projects under faculty supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Beth MeyerandDarryl Thelen+15 more

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample
BME 799

Advanced Independent Study

1–5 credits

BME 799 is an advanced independent study course conducted under faculty supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Peter AdamczykAmit Nimunkar+78 more

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2023 · limited sample
ME 340

Dynamic Systems

3 credits

ME 340 covers mathematical modeling and analysis of dynamic systems with mechanical, thermal, and fluid elements.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Darryl Thelen is praised for making the subject interesting through engaging lectures and numerous examples. Reviewers highlight his enthusiasm, responsiveness, and fair exams, noting that studying provided examples and homework leads to success.

Darryl ThelenXiangru Xu+2 more

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026
ME 491

Mechanical Engineering Projects I

1–3 credits

ME 491 involves individual lab projects conducted under staff supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Gregory NellisDan Negrut+36 more

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026 · limited sample
ME 492

Mechanical Engineering Projects II

1–3 credits

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROJECTS II is a continuation of ME 491.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Krishnan SureshFranklin Miller+5 more

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample
ME 699

Advanced Independent Study

1–3 credits

ME 699 is an advanced independent study course involving directed study projects arranged with an instructor.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Krishnan SureshGregory Nellis+24 more

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026BME 389Honors in Research
Fall 2026BME 399Independent Study
Fall 2026BME 489Honors in Research
Fall 2026BME 790Master's Research and Thesis
Fall 2026BME 799Advanced Independent Study
Fall 2026BME 890Pre-dissertation Research
Fall 2026BME 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2026ME 340Dynamic Systems
Fall 2026ME 491Mechanical Engineering Projects I
Fall 2026ME 492Mechanical Engineering Projects II
Fall 2026ME 699Advanced Independent Study
Fall 2026ME 790Master's Research and Thesis
Fall 2026ME 890Phd Research and Thesis
Fall 2026ME 990Dissertator Research and Thesis

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
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